The fringes of Iranian society can be a lonely place,
especially if you are a teenage girl with few resources to fall back on.
The Glass House follows four girls striving to pull themselves out of the
margins by attending Omid-e- Mehr, a one-of-kind rehabilitation center in uptown
Tehran. Forget about the Iran that you've seen before. With a virtually
invisible camera, the girls of The Glass House take us on a never-before-seen
tour of the underclass of Iran with their brave and defiant stories: Samira
struggles to overcome forced drug addiction; Mitra harnesses abandonment into
her creative writing; Sussan teeters on a dangerous ledge after years of sexual
abuse; and Nazila burgeons out of her hatred with her blazing rap music. This
groundbreaking documentary reflects a side of Iran few have access to or paid
attention to: a society lost to its traditions with nothing meaningful to
replace them and a group of courageous women working to instill a sense of
empowerment and hope into the minds and lives of otherwise discarded teenage
girls.

Filmmakers Hamid Rahmanian and Melissa Hibbard have created
three documentaries on video: BREAKING BREAD (2000), SIR ALFRED OF CHARLES DE
GAULLE AIRPORT (2001) and SHAHRBANOO (2002). In 2003, they co-founded a
non-profit organization - ARTEEAST - its mission statement to promote the arts
and cultures of the Middle East and it's worldwide diasporas in the United
States. In 2005, Hamid Rahmanian made his directorial début with the narrative
feature DAY BREAK (Dame Sohb), which premiered at the Toronto International Film
Festival and went on to win several awards at festivals around the world. THE
GLASS HOUSE is their latest narrative documentary, which will premiere in the
Fall 2008.

GET INVOLVED WITH THE GLASS HOUSE

We really appreciate all of you who supported and believed in
this project. Now we need your help to build a community around this project,
the Omid-e-Mehr Center and the lives of marginalized young women around the
world.

If you have friends and colleagues in the Netherlands, let
them know about the IDFA screenings.
Join and invite your freinds to The Glass House
Mailing List and become a fan on
facebook.
Media Contacts? Forward them the
pressbook

We anticipate that in early summer 2009 we will begin a
series of benefit screenings to help raise funds and awareness about the Omid e
Mehr Center. And in the fall 2009, to go hand in hand with the television
premiere of the film in the US on the Sundance
Channel, Fictionville Studio will release the DVD, containing
original essays written about the issues the film addresses, interviews, a
commentary on the making of the film, deleted scenes and additional stories from
a couple of the girls not in the film. A percentage of the profits of the DVD go to the Omid Foundation in London to
support the center in Tehran.

ABOUT OMID

Omid e Mehr was established in 2004 in Iran to strengthen the
social, emotional, and economic competencies of disadvantaged young women (aged
from 15 to 25), and provide them with a sense of self-worth and with the
opportunities to experience a full range of life options through
self-empowerment, education and training. Our clients have typically either been
put into care from an early age, or run away from abusive homes, or live in
extreme poverty. They often suffer from severe mental health and emotional
difficulties, mostly stemming from their experiences of neglect, physical and
sexual abuse, and exposure to drugs and violence. Despite their past
difficulties, and the obstacles still facing them, our young clients have
dreams. They yearn to participate in life, and to make meaningful contributions
to the world around them. Omids holistic approach provides these young clients
with the opportunities to realize such dreams. They are offered the tools,
structure and support to help them succeed. And, above all, we offer them the
chance to be heard. The cornerstones of this approach are self-empowerment,
education and training, supplemented by effective work placement, counselling
and assistance. We will only be able to thrive and to continue with our work
through the generosity of other people and their belief in our capacity to
change lives.

For more information abour Omid-e-Mehr and how to get
involved, please contact Marjaneh Halati at
marjaneh@omid-e-mehr.org, tel +44 (20) 55846949 or visit our
website